Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has denied shaking hands with Israeli President Moshe Katsav. The official Iranian news agency quoted Khatami as saying such allegations were false.
Earlier, the Israeli president said that he had shaken hands with both Khatami and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at Pope John Paul II's funeral in Rome.
The Syrian official news agency in Damascus has confirmed that Assad and Katsav did shake hands, but it dismissed the handshake as a mere formality that had no political significance.
Iran refuses to recognise Israel, and Israel and Syria are officially at war.
-DW